Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pat Robertson is, admittedly, an acquired distaste: you have to experience him for a while before you appreciate his kind of smarmy evangelism. A look at the below clip (with Michael J. Fox BEFORE Family Ties!) will tell you that he hasn't changed a bit: shooting from the hip for the "hip" and being waaay off the mark!

Now Pat is in the news again for his comments on gay marriage. Ho hum:

[Likening gay marriage to bestiality, polygamy and pedophilia]

“How can we criminalize these things and at the same time have constitutional amendments allowing same-sex marriage among homosexuals.” Robertson ended his rant on same-sex marriage by saying, “You mark my words, this is just the beginning in a long downward slide in relation to all the things that we consider to be abhorrent.”

So gay marriage is a slippery slope to all sorts of evil nastiness. This from a man who warned the people of Orland, FL to expect a meteor because Disney World was sponsoring "Gay Day." A run through of Pat's quotes against humanity (and sanity) would also include:

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." –Pat Robertson

Robertson erases some key points in history: Slavery, The Inquisition, The Crusades, The Blood Libel (against Jews, 13th through 19th centuries). And referencing the Holocaust: gee, I didn't know Pat Robertson had been put in a gas oven! Could that account for his rather ashen complexion?

"Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up" –Pat Robertson, on nuking the State Department.

From About.com, (political Humor - Crazy Pat Robertson Quotes)

O.K., so Robertson's a little balmy. The problem?: his comments might connect with someone equally as balmy. And that someone might have a knife, or baseball bat, or gun to use on someone they perceive as gay. "Pat Robertson and his 700 Club have never been responsible for gay bashing!" Oh? Given the huge numbers he used to command on CBN, Christofascists would have a very hard time proving that he wasn't responsible.

CBN lawyer Bruce Hausknecht wrote that the tapes depicted Robertson in a false light, implying that he promoted violence against gays and was the cause of lesbian and gay teen suicide, and that this was "severely damaging to the reputation of Dr. Robertson and his ministry." He said that "seconds" after the statements about Hitler and Satanists were made in a January 1993 broadcast of The 700 Club, "Mr. Robertson reached out with love and compassion to the homosexual community with these words: 'What we want to do is love them... and bring them into the kingdom.' However, PFLAG chose to ignore that comment." Hausknecht stated that Robertson has always preached opposition to violence against any group.

So...Remember July 29, 2008:

Jim D. Adkisson decided he had a problem with a certain type of Christianity – the type that actually cared about their fellow human beings. Children were performing the play ‘Annie’ at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church when Adkisson had had enough. His issues with the church were due to their socially liberal and ‘gay-friendly’ beliefs. In other words, this church was tolerant of others and Adkisson took issue with that.

Adkisson entered the church at 10 am carrying a guitar case while 200 members of the congregation watched the children’s production. Opening the case, he pulled out a 12 gauge shotgun and killed 2 adults and wounding 8 others. Thankfully, no children were injured. Adkisson was restrained until police arrived.

Behind that smarmy smile, Pat Robertson may embody all that is wrong with Christofascism: he and Jerry Falwell were thrilled when AIDS came along to help them in their part of the "culture wars." He championed people who expelled gays from their homes while they were sick and dying.

Since his inane proclamations have never really changed, neither have his (now smaller) band of devoted followers. But all it takes is one bullet ...